


Move with Me

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 08:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Two women coming to terms with an intertwined past which only one of them remembers.





	Move with Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runicmagitek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/gifts).



The ballroom was a splendor.  Extravagance of every form and function, from the grand banquet table presided over by their host, to the dance floor swept with opulent gowns and well-tailored suits of every shade and hue, to the floor-to-ceiling unglazed windows hung with resplendent curtains.  Even the sun setting over the Figaro Desert was picturesque.

It was a tactical nightmare.  There were twenty revelers for every guard, easily, and half the guards were slack at their post, if not outright mingling.  The King’s Guard, at least, seemed to be taking their jobs seriously.  Even if Sabin had outright dismissed his.

Watching the festivity, she stood, arms-crossed, with her back to the wall.

Her fingers itched for a blade.  Ribbons never suited her.

There was a soft, lingering touch at her elbow.  Celes glanced down, and her eyes followed the red velvet opera glove up the arm of its owner.

Since the death of magic, Celes’ ability to sense others’ thoughts and emotions had diminished.  Terra, at least, she understood.  Terra had always had a simplicity about her – a longing to understand everything she didn’t.  To her, life was beautiful, even in the deepest heart of darkness.

The world was no longer dark as it once was; neither did it ever feel like light had fully returned.

Terra smiled at her brightly.

“Care to dance?”

Celes quirked an eyebrow, and her smile turned shy.  Terra’s hand slid from her elbow as she glanced aside, to the couples sweeping across the room, moving in time with the rhythm of the music.

“People keep asking me, but...  I keep having to tell them I don’t know how.”

For several long moments, Celes hesitated.

Then, she held out her hand.

Terra’s red gloves closed over her aqua-blue.  With a deep sigh, Celes led the way forward.  The determined military stride to the least crowded corner of the floor turned a few heads.  But few enough people were paying them any mind.

Sliding an arm around Terra’s waist, Celes guided her hand upward pressing their palms together.

“Move as I do,” Celes told her.  “It will come to you.”

Celes didn’t bother explaining further.  Terra’s body remembered how.  Even if she didn’t consciously remember where she had learned it.

They moved across the floor with a practiced grace, following the ebb and flow of dancers.  Every so often, Celes would catch a familiar face, at a distance or in the crowd with them.

“You don’t remember any of this at all, do you?” Celes asked.

Terra blinked at her.  “No.  Should I?”

It was, perhaps, an unnecessary question.  Terra’s memories were a patchwork at best; they _should_ have returned, but the physical trauma she had endured muddled the process.  Everything before the Returners was gone, except in half-forgotten dreams.

Almost everything.

“Never mind.”

The Emperor had possessed grand aspirations of imposing a new Golden Age on the world.  As such, he had imposed high demands of his elite, cultural as well as martial.

They had danced together, the first dance Celes had been allowed to attend.  It was different than this; closed off.  Fortified.  Regimented.  _Compulsory_.

“We’ve done this before, haven’t we?”

“Yes.”

Their movements slowed.  Terra was watching her now, with an air of concern.

“Does it...?”

They brushed against another dancing couple.  Celes turned her head just in time to catch Cyan’s eye.  He nodded at her, gracing them with a smile that was nothing but good will.

Celes smiled back, thinly.  The crowd parted them.

“Does it hurt to remember?”

Her gaze was drawn back to Terra.  Her smile deepened.

“Not anymore.”

The past didn't matter.

They were free.

**Author's Note:**

> How many years has it been and I still have so many feelings about this game. Please enjoy this bit of chocolate. :)


End file.
